


Lost Years

by orphan_account



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alzheimer's Disease, Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 19:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3949672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angie comes to visit Peggy at the nursing home, only Steve is already there. And Peggy thinks it's still in the 1940s</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Years

**Author's Note:**

> This was a Tumblr prompt -- one of the best, saddest ones I've written.

It hurt. It always hurt. The way Peggy looked so blankly at her, eyes devoid of any recognition. The way Peggy asked who she was as if they hadn’t spent sixty years of their life together, sharing each other’s joys and pains. Her Peggy, her beautiful Peggy. It wasn’t always that way – there were days where Peggy would light up when she walked into the room and kiss her tenderly, but that only made the bad days all the harder.

Those days hardly compared to the agony she felt now. Angie had come to visit her wife in the nursing home, carrying a rhubarb pie in one hand and a bouquet of violets in the other. It was foolish of her, but she hoped that they might be able to celebrate their anniversary. Even if Peggy couldn’t remember who she was, Angie wanted to be near her.

Only Peggy already had a visitor. Steve Rogers, the famous Captain America, was sitting by her bed, holding her hand – the hand that Angie used to swat away from picking at dinner before it was ready. The hand that used to draw lazy circles over Angie’s skin, the hand that Angie used to squeeze for support. Seeing him there with Peggy caused her heart to sink, however ridiculous it was. He was Peggy’s first true love, after all, and Angie knew very well that Peggy never stopped loving him. If it had only been them together, Angie would have forced a smile onto her face and walked into the room.

But Peggy was sitting upright in bed, joyful tears in her eyes, grasping Captain Rogers’s hand tightly. “Steve,” she said, voice filled with love, “Oh, Steve. I thought… I thought you were dead. You’re back.”

"I couldn’t leave behind my best girl,” he said with his charming smile.

His best girl. Angie wanted to burst into the room and yell that Peggy was her best girl, but she couldn’t do that. It would be unfair to him, the hero of their country, and to Peggy.

"It’s been months,” Peggy whispered, and in that moment, Angie felt her heart shatter. Months after Captain America’s crash meant that Peggy wouldn’t remember who Angie was. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” He sounded so sincere. He loved her, Angie realized. Peggy hadn’t been the only one unable to move on.

"We can have our life together,” Peggy said. “Imagine, Steve. We can be together.”

Angie dropped the things she’d been carrying as she broke out into violent sobs. She covered her mouth with her hands to keep the sound from carrying into the room. Angie couldn’t listen to their conversation any longer; it was too painful.

On the other side of the wall, Peggy Carter, the love of her life, had completely forgotten who she was. All of the touches, kisses, laughs – gone. Memories that Angie cherished with all of her heart did not exist within Angie’s mind in that moment. But she remembered Steve. The man who Angie had spent nearly her entire life in the shadow of.

Angie leaned against the wall and sunk to the ground, still covering her mouth. Everything was spinning. One of the nurses saw her shaking on the ground and ran over to help, and Angie couldn’t find the energy to wave her off. The nurse, seeing Rogers through the window, helped her up and took her to a waiting room. “Come on, Mrs. Carter,” the nurse whispered supportively. “I’ll go get your things, alright?”

Angie nodded through her tears. Mrs. Carter. When Peggy first checked into the nursing home, she had insisted that they call Angie by Mrs. Carter, despite the two not being officially married. All of staff had been happy to agree, although Angie often insisted that they call her by her first name. In that moment, though, she needed to be called by Peggy’s last name. She needed to be reminded that she was still tied to Peggy, even if Peggy couldn’t remember it herself.

The tears wouldn’t stop flowing as Angie sat in the chair, shaking with sobs. It wasn’t fair. They had built a life together, and it was incredibly cruel that it was being ripped away in her last years on this earth. Margaret Carter, the love of her life, thought of her as nothing more than a stranger.

Angie continued to cry.


End file.
